Food vlogger Mr Taster feasted on Uzbek plov in Bukhara during his recent trip to Uzbekistan. youtu.be/0X0Tq_xyqrg

Dates are confirmed for the 2024 Baysun Bahori International Folklore Festival: 1-7 May. The festival is in Baysun District, Surkhandarya, a place where the local traditions have @unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage status.

12 April - the anniversary of Gagarin’s space flight - is the International Day of Human Space Flight. Did you know Uzbekistan has its own space hero, Vladimir Dzhanibekov? Dzhanibekov flew on 5 Soviet space missions, spending 145 days in space. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_…

Kosmonavtlar is a space-themed metro station in Tashkent & honours the Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin & Valentina Tereshkova, the first man and woman in space. Happy International Day of Human Space Flight!

New Empire Podcast episode:

Mrs. Genghis Khan
with the fabulous Marie Favereau

Contrary to recent media reports, the UK considers Uzbekistan a safe tourism destination. We encourage travel between 🇺🇿&🇬🇧 that is vital to build close ties between our people.
Whilst both countries are safe, we advise all tourists to take necessary precautions when travelling.

Baking day

Somsa / samsa / sambusag are baked meat pastries. The modern form is typically triangular, but in early medieval times they were semi circular and made with a layered pastry. I used lamb shoulder for the filling

There are some marvellous pieces in the auction catalogue for Christie's’s Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds sale. I’m conflicted, though: so many of these pieces should be in museums, not private hands. christies.com/en/lot/lot-647…

Did you know you can now fly to Muynaq 3x a week from Nukus? Silk Avia has started the route, making the Aral Sea region more accessible than ever before. silk-avia.com

Stihia tickets are on sale now. It’s taking place from 5-8 June, and Central Asia’s greatest electronic music festival is heading back home to Muynaq and the Aral Sea! stihia.org

🌙 Ramazon Hayitingiz muborak bo’lsin!

Before we went to the west of Uzbekistan we went from Tashkent to the east to see the beautiful cyan-blue water of the Charvak Reservoir with the snow-capped peaks of the Ugam-Chatkal National Park. What a view! 😍

OTD in 1336 Amir Timur, Uzbekistan’s national hero & founder of the Timurid Empire, was born. Last month I saw the humble crypt he built for himself in Shakhrisabz, & the dazzlingly ornate mausoleum in Samarkand where he was actually buried.

Three very different views of the Kalon Mosque in Bukhara, part of the city’s impressive UNESCO 🏛️ #Education #Sciences #Culture 🇺🇳 World Heritage Site.

Happy publication day, Andrew Staniland! The Jadids are one of the most fascinating groups in the intellectual & cultural history of modern Uzbekistan, & Andrew is doing important work bringing their poetry to new audiences. I cant wait for my copy to arrive 😍

Bon voyage to the 50 lucky passengers who are on the first ever Uzbekistan Airways flight from London Gatwick LGW to Tashkent today! Thanks to Sean M 🌈✈ for the photos - Sean’s writing about the flight experience & Tashkent as a city break destination for Independent Travel. #presstrip

Springtime walk in #Tashkent today. This usually very short period where we’ve just turned the heating off but haven’t put on the air conditioning yet! 🌷🌿🇺🇿

If I were to call a place a fairytale city, it would be Khiva.
#uzbekistan #traveljournalist #travelphotography

Don’t miss Alexey Ulko speaking at @pushkin_house on 8 April at 6pm.

Central Asian Colonial Bodies: Redrafting Art History.

pushkinhouse.org/whats-on/event…